Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time this season, Iola High’s Fillies were poised when Parsons High’s Lady Vikings made a late charge at them Tuesday.
The Fillies nailed down a 38-30 win by hitting free throws down the stretch. Iola improved to 3-2 on the season.
Iola had opened a 10-point lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter. Parsons cut the margin to three, 30-27, by the 3:27 mark.
The Fillies’ Kirstin McGuffin, who was in foul trouble most of the night, stepped to the foul line a minute later. McGuffin sank both ends of a one-and-one to break an almost five-minute scoreless lull for Iola.
After Kiralyn Mosier hit her third three-pointer of the night for Parsons, the game was down to a two-point margin, 32-30.
Toni Taylor walked to the line for a one-and-one with 1:14 on the clock. She missed the first toss but skying to get a rebound and a putback was Kendra Taiclet.
Taiclet pulled a defensive rebound on the other end and was fouled. She would go to the free-throw line four times and hit two.
Taylor came up with a blocked shot, preventing the Lady Vikings any more points. Kayla Callahan sank two free throws with 2.1 seconds left for the final margin.
“I wasn’t worried because we were doing everything we were supposed to be doing,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach, about Parsons bolting to a 7-2 lead.
“I didn’t see a lot of panic by our girls. That’s key — we don’t panic.”
Iola trailed 11-4 as the second quarter started. Taylor nailed a baseline jumper and Kelsey Larson stole the ball and scored on a layup. Taylor drilled another shot from the base line and it was 11-10 with just under six minutes to play.
The Fillies got their first lead, 13-11, of the night on a three by Taiclet. Parsons came up with five straight points to take a 16-13 advantage.
Larson’s putback started the Fillies back on the road to a lead. Taiclet hit one of two free throws to tie the game.
Taiclet, who finished with 14 points and six rebounds, connected to put Iola up for good with 1:18 left. Maggie Wilson hit a short jumper to put Iola up 20-16 at halftime.
Larson drove to the basket, scored and was fouled to open the second half. She hit the free throw. Iola outscored Parsons 6-2 in the third period.
“We were in charge of the game in the second half. This was a tough game because Parsons came back at us and we were tired at the end,” Carlson said. “We stepped up and hit free throws.
“We played with a lot of poise. We played hard and everybody who got in contributed.”
Carlson was pleased with the minutes off the bench played by Lauren Toney and Kelsey Adams. She said Larson, who had 10 points, did a good job controlling the game for the Fillies and “drove to the basket well tonight.”
The Fillies shot 39 percent, 14 of 36, from the field and went 9 of 15 at the line. They had 28 rebounds, led by Callahan’s eight.
Larson and Wilson each had three steals. Larson dished out four assists. Iola had just 11 turnovers.
Mosier led Parsons with 12 points. Parsons was 3 of 11 at the free-throw line.
In the junior varsity game, Iola won 37-29. Lisa McFadden scored 13 points and Adams had nine. There was no freshman girls’ game.
The Fillies finish pre-Christmas play Friday at home against Independence.
Iola (4-16-6-12—38) (FG/3-pt): Larson 4-2-3-10, Taiclet 4/1-3-2-14, Taylor 2-0-1-4, Wilson 2-0-2-4, Callahan 1-2-1-4, McGuffin 0-2-4-2. TOTALS: 13/1-9-14-38.
Parsons (9-7-2-12—30) (FG/3-pt): S. Kemp 2-1-1-5, T. Kemp 1-1-3-3, Mosier 1/3-1-3-12, Woodworth 2-0-4-4, Forbes 1-0-4-2, Getz 2-0-2-4. TOTALS: 9/3-3-17-30.
Fillies land home victory
